i. the house of islam This section reprinted by permission of Vincenzo Oliveti © 2001
(with the exception of President Obama’s speech)
The religion of Islam is based on belief in the One God (who in Arabic is called
Allah). It was founded by the Prophet Muhammad (570-632 CE) in the ancient
cities of Mecca and Medina, in the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula (known
as the Hijaz). God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad the Holy Qur'an, the
Sacred Book of Islam. The religion this created, however, was not a new message
but simply a final and total Arabic restatement of God's messages to the Hebrew
Prophets and to Jesus. The Holy Qur'an says:
Say ye: we believe in God and that which is revealed unto us and that which
was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the
Tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the Prophets
received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and
unto Him we have submitted. (The Holy Qur'an, 2:136)
Moreover, the Holy Qur'an did not even exclude the possibility of revelations
other than those that were given to the Prophets mentioned in the Bible (and
thus did not exclude the possibility of other genuine ancient religions other than
Judaism, Christianity and Islam). God says, in the Holy Qur'an:
Verily we have sent Messengers before thee [O Muhammad]. About some of
them have we told thee, and about some have we not told thee . . . (40:78).
And verily we have raised in every nation a Messenger [proclaiming]: serve
God and shun false gods . . . (16:36).
the essence of islam
The essence and substance of Islam can be easily summed up by three major
principles (which are also successive stages in the spiritual life): Islam (meaning
'submission to God's will'); Iman (meaning 'faith in God'), and Ihsan (meaning
'virtue through constant regard to, and awareness of, God'). The second Caliph,
the great 'Umar ibn al Khattab, related that:
One day when we were sitting [in Medina] with the Messenger of God [the
Prophet Muhammad] there came unto us a man whose clothes were of
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exceeding whiteness and whose hair was of exceeding blackness, nor were
there any signs of travel upon him, although none of us knew him. He sat
down knee upon knee opposite the Prophet, upon whose thighs he placed the
palms of his hands, saying: 'O Muhammad; tell me what is the surrender
(Islam)'. The Messenger of God answered him saying: 'The surrender is to
testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God's Messenger,
to perform the prayer, bestow the alms, fast Ramadan and make if thou canst,
the pilgrimage to the Holy House.' He said, 'Thou hast spoken truly,' and we
were amazed that having questioned him he should corroborate him. Then
he said: 'Tell me what is faith (Iman)'. He answered: 'To believe in God and
His Angels and his Books and His Messengers and the Last Day [the Day of
Judgement], and to believe that no good or evil cometh but by His Providence.'
'Thou hast spoken truly,' he said, and then: 'Tell me what is excellence (Ihsan).'
He answered: 'To worship God as if thou sawest Him, for if Thou seest Him
not, yet seeth He thee.' 'Thou hast spoken truly,' he said...Then the stranger
went away, and I stayed a while after he had gone; and the Prophet said to
me: 'O 'Umar, knowest thou the questioner, who he was?' I said, 'God and
His Messenger know best.' He said, 'It was Gabriel [the Archangel]. He came
unto you to teach you your religion.'1
Thus Islam as such consists of 'five pillars': (1) the Shahadatayn or the 'testimony
of faith' (whose inward meaning is the acknowledgement of God). (2) The five
daily prayers (whose inward meaning is the attachment to God). (3) Giving alms
or Zakat—one-fortieth of one's income and savings annually to the poor and
destitute (whose inward meaning is the detachment from the world). (4) Fasting
the Holy month of Ramadan annually (whose inward meaning is detachment
from the body and from the ego). (5) Making the Hajj (whose inner meaning is
to return to one's true inner heart, the mysterious square, black-shrouded Ka'ba
in Mecca being the outward symbol of this heart). Thus also Iman as such consists
of belief in all the essential doctrines of religion (and the inner meaning of this
is that one should not go through the motions of religion and of the five pillars
of Islam blindly or robotically, but rather have real faith and certainty in one's
heart). Thus, finally, Ihsan as such consists in believing that God always sees us,
and therefore that one must be virtuous and sincere in all one's actions. In this
connection the Prophet said: 'By Him in whose Hand is my Life, none of you believes
till he loves for his neighbour what he loves for himself '.2 In summary, we could say
that the essence of Islam is exactly the Two Commandments upon which Jesus
said hangs all the Law and the Prophets:

And Jesus answered him, The first of all commandments is...the Lord our God
is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy understanding, and with all thy strength: this is
the first commandment. And the second commandment is like, namely this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these.3
the canon of islam
Islam does not, like Christianity, have a clergy. There is no temporal or even
spiritual institute that holds it together or unifies it. So how did it hold together—
and indeed, flourish—for the last fourteen centuries approximately, when its
scholars and temporal policymakers keep changing and dying out over time?
How did it remain so homogeneous that the Islam of 1900 CE was doctrinally
exactly the same as the Islam of 700 CE? Where did its internal checks and balances
come from?
The answer is that Islam has a traditional canon:4 a collection of sacred texts
which everyone has agreed are authoritative and definitive, and which 'fix' the
principles of belief, practice, law, theology and doctrine throughout the ages. All
that Muslim scholars (called ulema and muftis or sheikhs and imams) have left to
do is to interpret these texts and work out their practical applications and details
(and the principles of interpretation and elaboration are themselves 'fixed' by these
texts), so that in Islam a person is only considered learned to the extent that he
can demonstrate his knowledge of these texts. This does not mean that Islam is a
religion of limitations for these texts are a vast ocean and their principles can be
inwardly worked out almost infinitely in practice. It does mean, however, that Islam
is 'fixed' and has certain limits beyond which it will not go. This is an extremely
important concept to understand, because misunderstanding it, and setting aside
the traditional canon of Islam, leads to people killing and assassinating others
in the name of religion. The traditional canon of Islam is what protects not just
the religion of Islam itself, but the world (including Muslims themselves) from
terrorism, murder and oppression in the name of Islam. The canon is Islam's
internal check and balance system; it is what safeguards its moderation; it is 'selfcensorship'
and its ultimate safety feature.
To be more specific, the traditional Sunni Islamic Canon starts with the Qur'an
itself; then the great traditional Commentaries upon it (e.g. Tabari; Razi;
Zamakhshari/Baydawi; Qurtubi; Jalalayn; Ibn Kathir; Nasafi; and al Wahidi's
3 The Gospel according to Mark 12:29 –31. (See also Deuteronomy 6:5; and Matthew 22:37- 40).
4 Even the English word 'canon' comes from the Arabic word kanun meaning 'law' or 'principle' .
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Asbab al Nuzul); then the eight traditional collections of Hadith, the sayings of
the Prophet, (e.g. Muslim; Bukhari; Tirmidhi; Ibn Hanbal, al Nasa'i; al Sijistani;
al Darimi and Ibn Maja); the later Muhaddithin, or Traditionists (e.g. Bayhaqi;
Baghawi; Nawawi and 'Asqalani); then the traditional biographical and historical
works of Sira (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, Waqidi; Azraqi; Tabari; and Suhayli); the Risala
of al Shafi'i: the Muwatta' of Imam Malik; the Ihya' 'Ulum al Din of Ghazali;
Ash'arite and Maturidian theology; the (original)'Aqida of Tahawi; Imam Jazuli's
Dala'il al Khayrat, and finally—albeit only extrinsically—Jahiliyya poetry (as
a background reference for the semantic connotations of words in the Arabic
language). We give a specific (but not exhaustive) list here in order to minimize
the possibility of misunderstanding.
islam in history
It is evidently not possible to do justice to the role of Islam in world history,
thought and civilization in a few words, but the following paragraph by Britain's
Prince Charles attempts it:
The medieval Islamic world, from Central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic,
was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because
we have tended to see Islam as the enemy, as an alien culture, society, and
system of belief, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to
our own history. For example, we have underestimated the importance
of eight hundred years of Islamic society and culture in Spain between
the 8th and 15th centuries. The contribution of Muslim Spain to the
preservation of classical learning during the Dark Ages, and to the first
flowerings of the Renaissance, has long been recognized. But Islamic Spain
was much more then a mere larder where Hellenistic knowledge was kept
for later consumption by the emerging modern Western world. Not only
did Muslim Spain gather and preserve the intellectual content of ancient
Greek and Roman civilization, it also interpreted and expanded upon that
civilization, and made a vital contribution of its own in so many fields of
human endeavour—in science, astronomy, mathematics, algebra (it self
an Arabic word), law, history, medicine, pharmacology, optics, agriculture,
architecture, theology, music. Averroes [Ibn Rushd] and Avenzoor [Ibn
Zuhr], like their counterparts Avicenna [Ibn Sina] and Rhazes [Abu Bakr
al Razi] in the East, contributed to the study and practice of medicine in
ways from which Europe benefited for centuries afterwards. 5
5 H.R.H the Prince of Wales, 'Islam and the West', a lecture given at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford on

On 4 June, 2009, US President Barack Obama said the following at Cairo
University:
As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam—
at places like Al Azhar—that carried the light of learning through so many
centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment.
It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of
algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens
and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can
be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires;
timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of
peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated
through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial
equality.
I also know that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first
nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of
Tripoli in 1796, our second President, John Adams, wrote, 'The United
States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or
tranquility of Muslims.' And since our founding, American Muslims
have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, they have
served in our government, they have stood for civil rights, they have started
businesses, they have taught at our universities, they've excelled in our
sports arenas, they've won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the
Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim American was recently elected
to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same
Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers—Thomas Jefferson—kept
in his personal library.

1.His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, King of Saudi
Arabia, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
2. His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sayyid Ali Khamenei,
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
3. His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco
4. His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, King of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
5. His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the
Republic of Turkey
6. His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Sa'id al Sa'id, Sultan of Oman
7. His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hussein Sistani, Marja
of the Hawza, Najaf
8. His Eminence Sheikh Al Azhar Dr Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi,
Grand Sheikh of the Al Azhar University, Grand Imam of Al
Azhar Mosque
9. Sheikh Dr Yusuf Qaradawi, Head of the International Union of
Muslim Scholars
10. His Eminence Sheikh Dr Ali Goma'a, Grand Mufti of the Arab
Republic of Egypt
11. His Eminence Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullah Aal al Sheikh,
Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
12. Mohammad Mahdi Akef, Supreme Guide of the Muslim
Brotherhood
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13. Hodjaefendi Fethullah Güllen, Turkish Muslim Preacher
14. Amr Khaled, Preacher and Social Activist
15. Hajji Mohammed Abd al Wahhab, Ameer of the Tablighi Jamaat,
Pakistan
16. His Royal Eminence Amirul Mu'minin Sheikh as Sultan
Muhammadu Sa'adu Abubakar III, Sultan of Sokoto
17. Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah
18. Dr KH Achmad Hasyim Muzadi, Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama,
Indonesia
19. Sheikh Salman al Ouda, Saudi Scholar and Educator
20. His Highness Shah Karim al Hussayni, The Aga Khan IV, 49th
Imam of the Ismaili Muslims
21. His Highness Emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum,
Ruler of Dubai, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates
22. His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan,
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander
of the UAE Armed Forces
23. Sheikh Dr M Sa'id Ramadan al Bouti, Leading Islamic Scholar in
Syria
24. His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin
Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam
25. His Eminence Professor Dr Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad al Tayeb,
President of Al Azhar University
26. His Eminence Mohammad bin Mohammad al Mansour, Imam of
the Zaidi Sect of Shi‘a Muslims
27. His Eminence Justice Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Leading
Scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence, Pakistan
28. His Excellency President Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic
of Turkey
29. Sheikh Mohammad Ali al Sabouni, Scholar of Tafsir
30. His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Deputy-Head of the
International Union of Muslim Scholars
31. Her Eminence Sheikha Munira Qubeysi, Leader of the Qubeysi
Movement
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32. His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad Tijani Ali Cisse, Leader of Tijaniyya
Sufi Order
33. Sheikh al Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Director of Dar al Mustafa,
Tarim, Yemen
34. Khaled Mashaal, Leader of Hamas
35. Professor Dr M Din Syamsuddin, Chairman of Muhammadiyya,
Indonesia
36. Maulana Mahmood Madani, Secretary General of Jamiat Ulemae-
Hind, India
37. Sheikh Habib Ali Zain al Abideen al Jifri, Director General of the
Tabah Foundation, UAE
38. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Founder of Zaytuna Institute, USA
39. His Eminence Sheikh Professor Dr Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti
of Bosnia and Herzegovina
40. His Excellency Professor Dr Ekmelledin Ihsanoglu, Secretary
General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
41. General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Commander of the Revolutionary
Guard, Iran
42. Dato' Haji Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Religious Guide of the
Islamic Party of Malaysia
43. Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami,
Bangladesh
44. Professor Sayid Ameen Mian Qaudri, Barelwi Leader and
Spiritual Guide
45. His Holiness Dr Syedna Mohammad Burhannuddin Saheb, 52nd
Da‘i l-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras
46. Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani Nuclear Scientist
47. Professor Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Philosopher
48. Abdullah 'Aa Gym' Gymnastiar, Indonesian Preacher
49. Sheikh Mehmet Nazim Adil al Qubrusi al Haqqani, Leader of
Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order
50. His Excellency Dr Abd al Aziz bin Uthman Altwaijiri, Secretary
General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization

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